The eyes.
Crystal blue eyes stared up at the exit of the escape pod… where he left.
It was amazing how he carelessly went out into space to save her. He didn't care what would happen to him, didn't have a plan, and did not want to return home without her.
Quistis admired that.
Sure she thought Squall had feelings for her of some sort… but that deeply? Internally, she wished someone would feel the same way for her that Squall felt for Rinoa.
They were almost home now; the escape pod was getting closer and closer to Earth. Quistis placed herself back in her holding unit along with Ellone. Ellone… she remained silent as soon as Squall left. He gave her a lot of things to think about.
Through all of the 'connections' she put the orphanage gang through, she hoped that they could change the past. Why? Because of Laguna. Uncle Laguna accomplished a lot of things in his life. And in a hilarious kind of way, most of it was done so he could get closer to Ellone when she was kidnapped. But there was this one thing he did not accomplish when he was all over the world: he did not remain by Raine's side when she gave birth to his child.
In a way, Ellone felt as if it were her fault. But other reasons convince her otherwise. She was kidnapped. Maybe that could have been helped, but no one saw it coming. No one knew she was going to be taken away.
Much later on, in Edea's orphanage, Ellone found out that Laguna and Raine's son was one of the children within the complex. Ironically enough, the boy became attached to her. And that boy's name was Squall.
Not until recently has she decided she could use her powers to try to change the past. As she grew up, she has yet to understand how to use her powers as well as she does presently. Since she wanted Laguna to be with Raine and their child so much, that was what she wanted to accomplish. And who else would be better to help her accomplish this hope other than Laguna's son.
Perhaps Ellone figured Squall would get to know his father better each time she connected him to the past. That was why Squall had the privilege to go to every 'connection'…
Ellone also thought about how much Squall was like his father. Doing anything to get to hear Rinoa's voice as well as Laguna doing the same for Ellone. But the relationship that Squall had with Rinoa was different than Ellone had with Laguna. Their relationship was more father/daughter based while Squall and Rinoa's relationship was more to do with love. The way that Squall left to go save Rinoa in space made Ellone wish that Laguna were like that with Raine. If only…
Things happened like this for a reason. And Ellone had the eyes to see it all.
The escape pod shook violently as it entered the Earth's atmosphere as the three held onto their holding units for their dear lives. Who knew where they would land? From all that's happened at the Lunar Base, Ellone had a feeling something was going to happen to her when they landed… no matter where it was.
After several moments, the escape pod released its parachutes into the air as it made its way to southern Esthar. Surprisingly, the pod crashed with such a force to the ground, causing Quistis to lose consciousness, and Ellone and Piet to have painful headaches. A few moments passed and Piet released himself from his holding unit, standing up and checking on the two women. Ellone released herself from her holding unit as well, seeing that Piet was ok, and looked over to see Quistis unconscious. "Oh no, Quisty!"
Hearing Ellone, Piet walked over to Quistis with her and helped her out of the holding unit to lie upon the floor. "She'll be alright, she was knocked out from the landing, probably." Piet assured Ellone.
As they tended to Quistis, the pod door flew open and a few Galbadian soldiers ran inside, pointing guns towards them. Ellone and Piet stood up straight and looked at them in confusion. Piet spoke first. "What the hell is going on here?"
"SILENCE!"
Just then, a duo that anyone could recognize walked within in the pod, making the Galbadian soldiers step aside from their presence. The bulky dark-skinned man put his fists on his hips and gave a nod towards Ellone with respect. "Alright, Ellone, ya gotta come with us. Seifer's orders, ya know?"
"CAPTURE." Fujin ordered the soldiers, and they obeyed her as two walked over to her and took her by the arms. Ellone had no desire to object, for she knew this would happen. As far as she knew, she wouldn't be hurt. Everyone needed her for her powers.
Ellone was lead out of the pod, now in control of Galbadia. Piet watched as the mob left the scene, looking to Ellone. She turned her head around and gave a nod like it was all right. Everything will be all right.
~~~~~~~
Her eyes were on him.
Every little move he made, she observed. When he was in a coma, she wished to see him full of life once again. And now that he was, she did not want to miss any of it. It felt so good just to see him like that again.
His face expressions were so animated. When he thought, he squinted his eyes and frowned slightly. As he spoke, his words were just as smooth as his voice. And when he looked at her, she wanted to comfort him; longing and lost were the looks her gave her every time.
Once again, she observed how he handled things. The door at the other end of the hall they walked out to was tightly sealed shut. "I guess it can be unlocked on the other side. We have to find a way to get there." Squall turned around and looked at her. It seemed as though she was lost in thought, and that was a rare thing for Rinoa.
"…... Something wrong?" And it was a rare thing for him to ask such a question to anyone.
She looked up at him from her thoughts and shook her head, holding up her right hand. "No-no, I'm fine…" She lied… for now. Something was bothering her dearly, but now was not the time to say anything about it; or talk about it, for that matter. They were lost in space and needed to see if they could get home before she would say anything.
Squall sensed her uneasiness and let it go. If she didn't want to talk right now, he understood why.
The commander headed to his right and down the stairs of the glorious ship, and of course, Rinoa followed close behind. They both knew that they had to get to the control room of the ship. Obviously no one was around to fly them home and they had to do it themselves.
A matter of time passed when they looked into all of the rooms. No signs of a control room anywhere, although they managed to get on the other side of that locked door and release its tight seal. Just then, Squall turned around and noticed a lift behind them. Since they didn't check into that yet, Rinoa stood on the lift followed by Squall, and it rose up into another room. Finally: the control room.
As the lift stopped, large windows that showed millions of the stars scattered mostly surrounded the room. Rinoa, loving such a sight, jogged off the lift and opened her arms out, excitedly exclaiming… "Wow!" Squall stood there and watched her a moment, before stepping off the lift and crossing his arms, turning his head to the left.
(I have to… fly this thing?)
The panel near one of the seat near Rinoa begins to beep. She blinks in surprise and turns to face it, looking down upon it before turning her gaze back up to Squall. "Squall, it's trying to talk."
Snapping out of his thoughts, he looks up and over to Rinoa, dropping his arms, and jogs his way over, looking down over it.
(Volume?)
"This is Esthar Airstation."
(It's…)
"Ragnarok, do you read? Ragnarok, do you read?!"
(… a radio signal.)
"This is Airstation. Do you copy?"
Excitedly, Rinoa puts her hands together and releases a giggle from her lips, smiling brightly. After doing so, she once again feels the need to hug Squall again. Rushing forward, she hugs onto Squall's back for a few seconds, causing him to look over his shoulder in surprise. After she let go, Squall's heart slowly began to beat again as he attended to the matter at hand, looking back down at the panel.
"This ship is the Ragnarok?"
Rinoa stepped back and listened to what was being said, keeping quiet and letting her left hand take hold of her right arm in her normal stance.
"Whoa! Is this really the Ragnarok? You're in space, right?"
"Yeah, but I have no idea where we are."
"Roger that! We can track you from here."
(We can go home…?)
"Ragnarok, it's been seventeen years!"
Annoyed by the excitement from the man, Squall tried to keep his frustration down. The man apparently thought that Squall knew what the hell he was doing.
"Can we make it back?"
"Leave it to us! You should have enough fuel. Enter your location into the atmospheric reentry program and you'll be ok. Once you enter the atmosphere, we can guide you down. You'll be just fine."
Once again, Rinoa witnessed the trained perfectionist at work.
"How do I enter the data?"
Her hand slid down her arm as she saw Squall listen to every instruction that the man on the other end was telling him. He took a seat at one of the seats of the ship, listening and typing in the data that was received. If Rinoa were here alone, she'd probably be so confused. But the way he did things never ceased to amaze her. He was perfect in whatever he did. She admired that so much.
"Entered." He sighed, hoping this would be the last of the instructions.
"No errors?"
"It's fine."
"Next, I'm sure you're ok, but there's something I need you to do. Turn off the gravity generator. This should save some fuel. Use the same touch panel to turn it off."
"Alright." Squall leaned forward and looked down at the panel, pressing the obvious button for the gravity generator switch. "Done."
"Congratulations. You're home free, Ragnarok. And… there's one more thing we need to tell you. From all of us at Ground Control, we wish you Godspeed."
"Thanks."
Now that all of the complications were over and done with, Squall turned around and looked at Rinoa from the seat. No way in hell did he forget about her. Her eyes looked over at him, seeing he was making a signal for her to come and sit down next to him. Giving a nod, she smiled softly and stepped forward to walk to the seat, but from the gravity release, she began to float in the air. "Hey?!"
Laughing, the girl brought her legs to her chest and hugged them as she did a forward spin in the air. Who wouldn't want to fool around in zero gravity?
Figuring she didn't know how to get to her seat from the lack of gravity, Squall stood from his seat and turned to her, pushing himself towards her and opened his arms. As he did so, Rinoa watched him with a small playful smirk on her lips, remaining where she was to see what he would do.
Upon getting closer to her, he took her in his arms as his boots fell to the ground, and turned back around, carrying her closer to the seats. When they were close enough, Squall let her go and sank back down into his seat, reaching over to the side and buckling himself in. "Go sit over there. Put your seatbelt on."
Rinoa watched him get back in his seat, smiling to herself after what he said. This wasn't exactly a bumpy ride, was it? Totally ignoring what he requested of her, she flew up and over his chair, and with the help of the ceiling of the control room, she sank down onto his lap. Squall, from his forward stare, noticed movement above him and looked up, seeing her sinking down and opened his arms as she landed on his lap. Slightly surprised and confused, he tried to stop himself from blushing this time… and it actually did work.
He looked at her this close to him, and she looked right back at him and into his eyes. She was so beautiful to him, and seeing her this close made him nervous. "Now go sit down."
"Just a little longer." She spoke out softly, getting a little more comfortable on his lap and taking her eyes away from his for the moment. The back of her right palm was to his chest as her left hand rested on his right shoulder. She felt Squall's left hand supporting her back so she wouldn't float away. It made her feel welcome with him for once, being this close.
He watched her a moment, before letting his curiosity take the best of him. He raised his right-gloved hand and placed it on her left arm as he spoke out softly. "Why are you holding on to me like this?"
Once again, Rinoa fixed her gaze upon his handsome face, giving a small smile. "You don't like this, Squall?"
Like it? He loved it. This feeling of comfort and love… he hasn't felt this for a long time; ever since Ellone left. He answered honestly. "Just not used to it."
"How about when you were little? Didn't you feel safe and secure being held by your parents?" Her smile slowly faded as an understanding expression crossed her features in a content way, making Squall a little more comfortable to answer her questions. He never told anyone about what he was going to say to her. "I can't remember anything about my parents…" He turned his face to look her in the eyes again. "But… Ellone was there for me. Ellone was there to hold my hand."
Glad he was actually telling her all of this Rinoa smoothly continued without showing any signs of excitement. "Made you feel safe and secure?"
"Sure. But she left. Just disappeared." He looked down and away from those eyes of hers. He didn't know where this came from, but perhaps his feelings made him want to say it. "I'm afraid… afraid of having that feeling of comfort taken away."
Rinoa opened her mouth slightly, taking this all in. It was all beginning to make sense now. She frowned lightly, but full of understanding, leaning her head back some to speak some more. "You were afraid of losing us? Is that why you kept your distance?"
She hit it right on the spot. It was as if all of his past intentions were written on a piece of paper and shown to her in his eyes. She could read him… he admired that. "I was always alone…"
"Squall…"
She closed her eyes and leaned in closer to his face, giving an embrace full of comfort and welcoming. Squall allowed this, staring forward and taking this in the best way he could. It felt wonderful to have her so close. Rinoa frowned slightly as she spoke; finally getting the answers she had so many questions for about him. "You missed out on all the good things in life." She released the embrace slowly. "You've missed out on so much."
"…Maybe."
"Definitely." She gave a nod to her word and turned her head to look out the window in front of them. "I like it like this. I liked having my mom hold me. My dad, too, back when we got along."
"I'm not your mom."
"No, of course not." She chuckled a little. "But now… Squall, you're the one who gives me the most comfort. Comfort and happiness… and annoyance and disappointment, too!" She kicked her legs lightly as she spoke her last few words. A moment of silence came upon them until…
"… Whatever." They both spoke out. Squall looked at her and gave a fake annoyed expression, causing Rinoa to giggle a bit. She knew he was going to say that.
Shrugging slightly, he looked back over to her and at her eyes… "You should get back to your seat now."
"Just a little longer." Once again, Rinoa pulled Squall into that comforting embrace, trying to forget all the worries she had on her mind. And yes, she had plenty now… "We're gonna make it home, right?"
Squall closed his eyes a moment, his heart racing from such closeness with her. "We can only hope."
"When we get back… we won't be able to stay together, huh?"
"… Maybe. No one can predict the future, there are no guarantees." He looked up and towards her angelic face once again. "Those were your words… Rinoa."
She lowered her head a little, blinking lightly. "That's not what I meant." She began to frown a little, letting the worries return to her. She had to let him know what was bothering her now or he might never hear her again.
"We'll figure out what to do once we get back." She loosened her grip upon him, sliding herself off of his lap as she floated over to her seat, finally. Squall already missed her warmth. He turned his head to look at her as she placed her hands upon her knees and stared forward. "They'll all be angry at me."
"Angry?" He frowned as he kept his eyes on her.
"This is Airstation. Ragnarok, please respond."
Huffing lightly, Squall looked to the panel in front of him and spoke out to it. "This is the Ragnarok."
"We have some questions for you. We're collecting escape pods." As the man spoke, Squall looked over to Rinoa who was looking to her left, away from him. He didn't want to hear this right now; all he wanted to hear was her. He looked at how her hair rested upon her shoulders. Hyne, even when she wasn't looking directly at him, she was beautiful. "I hear no one from Lunar Base is on the Ragnarok. How many of you are there?" Just then, Squall snapped out of it, and looked to the panel again. "Just two."
"….. Your names?"
"Squall. I'm a SeeD from Balamb Garden."
"And the other?"
"… Rinoa." He leaned back in his chair.
"Rinoa? The sorceress?! She's on the ship?!"
(So… It's true? Rinoa is a sorceress?) He turned his head to look back over at her, which she was now facing forward. She turned her head to look at him as well, an upset expression crossing her features. She raised her right hand to her collarbone as she spoke. "I've… become a sorceress. I can't stay with you anymore, Squall."
"Respond, Ragnarok!"
"I don't want the future. I want the present to stand still. I just want to stay here with you…" A sad expression formed in her eyes and eyebrows, he got lost in her eyes and saw how honest she was about what she spoke.
(Rinoa…) Squall frowned, staring at her, not knowing what to say. He was never good at that.
"Respond, Ragnarok!"
"Nobody would want to be around me anymore…" She frowned, looking down at the floor.
"The sorceress will be seized upon arrival. Be sure to follow the crews instructions."
"I'm… scared." Her mouth opened slightly as she brought her legs to her chest, her frown grew deeper as she began to quiver, resting her head upon her knees.
"Squall, do you copy? Is the sorceress listening, too?" That was it. Squall took his eyes off her for a second to lean forward and slam the panel off with his knuckles, silencing the transmission.
"I'm scared, Squall."
Things were happening too quickly. He hated it. She was about to cry and he couldn't take that. Leaning back, he unlocked his seatbelt and stood, and within a second, he was kneeled by her side. Rinoa managed to lift her head from her knees to turn her head to look at him with tears in her eyes. With a concerned expression crossing his features, he gently took her hand and kissed the back of it, his eyes never leaving hers as he frowned sadly. Right after he did such an action, he wrapped his arms around her as she leaned against him for comfort. And before sobbing quietly, she managed to speak out. "I don't wanna go back."
Squall closed his eyes tightly as he held onto her like this. After a moment, he managed to open them and look up and to his right out the window, and to that glorious moon that was right before his eyes. He stared at it blankly as he felt Rinoa cry upon him… perhaps searching for an answer like she did only a week ago when he was in a coma.
Squall never felt this way about anyone in his life. She meant everything to him now. Unlike how Ellone made him feel, he felt so powerful just because he cared for Rinoa. She was his strength.
Esthar would be waiting for them when they landed. (I'll kill them all.) Squall frowned up at the moon. Maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea. What if he couldn't do anything to stop them? There had to be a way, and he would figure it out.
Several minutes passed and Rinoa slowly began to calm down. Noticing this, Squall looked away from the moon and down at her. Her eyes were closed and she sniffled, curled up in a vulnerable little ball. Hesitating a bit, he raised his right gloved-hand and pushed the hair from her face, some wet from her tears. Feeling this, Rinoa's eyes fluttered open as she turned her head to look up at him. He didn't take his eyes off her.
She sat up some, leaning back against the chair, keeping her eyes on him as well. Seeing a few tears under her eyes, Squall slid his gloved finger under them, letting them absorb into it, taking them away immediately. Resting her hands upon his arms, Rinoa sighed and closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath. Squall watched her and remained silent, noticing that she wanted to say something…
"She tried to kill you, Squall… that's why you were in a coma."
"…… What?"
Rinoa's wet lashes parted again as her eyes fell upon his surprised expression. She continued. "Ultimecia… the sorceress that possessed me to release Adel… she put you in a coma as a plan." She stared into his eyes. "I fell into a coma with you after we defeated Edea… but I woke up after a couple of days. That was when she was hiding inside of me… I didn't know this until just recently, when I was possessed. Somehow, she knows you're the destined SeeD to destroy her…. so she tried to destroy you after using you to get to space; therefore using me to release Adel since she was hiding inside of me as I was in space with you…"
Squall's grayish-blue eyes widened as he stared at his love, his mouth opening slightly, digesting such information. He remembered, in his coma state, those words…
____
"You were of good use to me… now you are not needed any longer."
"Now, destined SeeD, you will sleep forever."
____
Rage filled the commander as he squeezed his jaw tightly, closing his eyes and clenching his fists. Ultimecia was using the both of them as puppets for her evil plan. Regaining himself, he opened his eyes to see Rinoa frowning sadly as she looked at him. Squall spoke out soft, trying not to lose his composure. "So Matron was being possessed, too…" Rinoa gave a nod to answer his question.
"Then why am I still alive?" His frown slowly faded, as he got lost in her eyes full of sorrow.
"As soon as she possessed me, I knew her plan… and all of her intentions. But the one that I couldn't let her accomplish was the plan to kill you…"
"… You stopped her." Squall stared at her sincerely, not knowing what to say after that, and not knowing what to do but stare at her eyes.
"I tried my best to make her think about her other intentions… just to make her forget about killing you. When I felt as though I was winning the battle, I think that's when Ellone and Quistis came into the room and made her leave…" Rinoa dropped her head and closed her eyes, a deep frown coming over her features again as she raised her right hand and placed it upon his shoulder, making her hand disappear within the feathers of his jacket. "I couldn't let her kill you, Squall… I was so worried.. I couldn't let her take you away from me forever…" She began to weep again uncontrollably.
Squall watched her a few seconds before standing up and floating over to the gravity generator, pushing the button for it to go back on. Since they were so close to home now, what difference would it make? As the gravity took its time to come back on, Squall floated back over to Rinoa, leaning over and picking her up in his arms as she continued to cry. As his boots sank to the floor again, Squall walked the both of them out of the area with the chairs and placed Rinoa on the floor, and right after doing so, he sat down right next to her.
Running his gloved hands through her hair to get out of her face, he comforted her as she cried, hugging her close and closing his eyes, feeling her sniffle against him. She saved his life in so many ways… what he did for her could never compare. Rinoa was right. He didn't want the future either. Just being with her like this would make him the happiest person in the world, even if he didn't know how to show it correctly.
Cuddling against him, her cries subsided and she left her eyes closed, hearing the soothing sound of his heart beating; not only keeping him alive, but her alive as well.
And there they remained for now; embracing each other and hoping that the present would be kind enough to slow down a little so they could stay like this longer. If only…….